Ted Cruz ends marathon speech

Ted Cruz finally released his grip on the Senate floor after more than 21 hours of speaking about the need to defund Obamacare.

The Texas Republican seized control of the Senate floor on Tuesday about 2:42 p.m. vowing to “speak in support of defunding Obamacare until I am no longer able to stand.” Cruz could have spoken all the way up to a 1 p.m. procedural vote on moving spending bill forward, but he relented at noon.

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“It is my it intention to accept the end of this at noon,” Cruz said.

After his 20th hour holding the floor, Cruz asked Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to come to the floor to listen to a pair of requests that sparked a bizarre exchange. Cruz asked to waive Wednesday’s vote and move a high-stakes procedural vote to Friday rather than Saturday to allow more people to watch.

“I think it is better for this country that this vote is visible,” Cruz said. “Sticking it on Saturday in the middle in the middle of football games would disserve that objective.”

Reid ignored Cruz’s requests and asked for far more time to be yielded back to allow the House more time to consider what the Senate will send back.

“There’s a possibility that they may not accept what we send them and they may want to send us something back,” Reid said.

Cruz cut off Reid, accusing him of “making a speech” rather than asking Cruz a question.

Despite his Ironman stand on the floor of the upper chamber, Cruz could not stop a Senate already in motion from eventually returning a clean continuing resolution to the House scant days before a government shutdown is scheduled to take effect on Oct. 1. Under Senate rules, the latest the upper chamber could take the first procedural vote on a House spending bill that defunds Obamacare is 1 p.m. on Wednesday — a reality Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) broadcast to the world Tuesday morning when he opened the Senate and again on Wednesday.

“This is not a filibuster. This is an agreement that he and I made that he could talk,” Reid said Wednesday.

In other words, from the beginning it was all over save for the theatrics. But Cruz offered plenty Tuesday by holding the Senate floor for hours about why Obamacare should cease to exist. He was flanked at times by Republican Sens. David Vitter of Louisiana, Mike Lee of Utah, Jeff Sessions of Alabama, Pat Roberts of Kansas, Mike Enzi of Wyoming, James Inhofe of Oklahoma, Jim Risch of Idaho, Marco Rubio of Florida and Rand Paul of Kentucky, who recommended Cruz wear comfortable shoes and not eat food on national television.

Cruz touched on a wide variety of subjects during his marathon, from Dr. Seuss to college kids’ inability to find White Castle burgers during the wee hours because of Obamacare. He read tweets from constituents and related stories from a “lost generation” of young people plagued by the Affordable Care Act.

He also read bedtime stories to his children, who he said were at home watching him on C-SPAN. One was the Seuss tale “Green Eggs and Ham.”

Cruz was even joined by Democrats, including Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia and Majority Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois, who pointedly questioned Cruz both Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. Kaine sparred with Cruz for 30 minutes and argued some voters had sent people to Washington to preserve Obamacare. Kaine won his Senate seat in 2012 by besting former Sen. George Allen (R-Va.), who had staked his election on repeal.

Durbin on Tuesday explained why he voted for the health care law and argued the law made it easier for one of his constituents to qualify for Medicaid. Durbin asked if — given Cruz’s Ivy League education — he knew he did not have the votes to defund Obamacare in the Senate.

“I would note that I’m quite familiar with what is necessary to defund Obamacare,” Cruz shot back.

Cruz bashed his colleagues in Washington for accepting that stopping Obamacare is impossible and charged that the outcome of the drama in the Senate this week is predetermined, comparing it to professional wrestling.

He also dinged anonymous staffers and Republican lawmakers for criticizing him in the press, yet also divulged a conversation between Lee and an anonymous House member. According to Cruz, that lawmaker told Lee of the House sending over its defund bill: “You guys should be grateful. We gave you your vote.”

“Why should we feel gratitude for a vote that’s destined to lose?” Cruz asked of other Republicans, referring to Reid’s procedural upper-hand. “Symbolic votes are great for getting elected.”

A potential 2016 presidential candidate, Cruz is playing to the GOP base as much as he is bashing business as usual inside the Capitol. He said some lawmakers are too concerned with hitting the D.C. cocktail circuit, taking show votes and giving speeches to change the way Washington works, asking at one point: “Where is the outrage?”

“A lot of members of this body have — at least so far — not showed up to battle,” Cruz said, repeatedly referring to the empty chairs in the Senate chamber while he talked. “The chattering class is quick to discipline anyone who doesn’t fall in line.”